Housing markets tend to run in multi-year cycles, but the Vancouver Sun is reporting that spring sales and prices are up in BC since January:
“[March sales are] actually quite an improvement from what we experienced in the winter months, and really, right now are trending on what we might expect,” said Cameron Muir, chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association, in an interview.
Extrapolating March sales out over the rest of the year, Muir said sales will trend at levels somewhere around sales levels experienced during 2000-01.
“That’s what we would expect given a weaker economy [and] rising unemployment.”
From November to January, Muir said sales levels resembled the mid-1980s, which saw much worse economic conditions.
Muir said unemployment levels at the beginning of the current decade were higher than they are today, though “we’re expecting, of course, continued erosion of employment levels over the coming months.”
However, he said the combination of falling prices and interest rates continues to draw buyers back into the market.
Full article at the Vancouver Sun.
Rather than ramble on about spring bounces I’ll just show a picture of the last three years in Sacramento from the Sacramento Land(ing) Blog – the only spring that hasn’t bounced is this one:
